Beggar Magic

by Burke, H. L.

  “Harness the Strains?” Leilani glanced at Zeb whose jaw hung slack. “How and why?”

  “The project he has me working on, the amplifiers . . . again, I cannot be specific. I have questioned his motives for wanting them built and his need to keep everything secret. His answers have never satisfied me.”

  “Could the amplifiers create dead spots?” Zeb asked.

  Brash shook his head. “No. Strains, no. If anything, they would do the exact opposite. They are called amplifiers for a reason.”

  Leilani frowned. The Strains hummed in a tight, high pitched tone.

  Zeb cleared her throat. “They amplify the Strains. Make them louder.”

  Leilani flushed. She should’ve been able to put that together.

  “You girls need to step aside. This could be dangerous. Let me handle it, all right? Cogg does not respect me, but he does trust me not to betray him. I should be in a position to find out if he is in some way behind this. In the meantime, lie low, pretend to forget.” Brash rose, walked to the door, put his hand on the knob, and looked back over his shoulder. “You’ve done well, Miss Brightly.”

  Zeb beamed long after the door had closed behind him. Leilani rolled her eyes, fed up with Zeb's obsession with Brash.

  Zeb reached for the notepad on her bedside table. “I’m glad that’s over with. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about the study we did. At all the manors, most junior fellows identified the Strains as having a single voice, with the exception of Healing. Many at Healing reported multiple voices within the Strains, like I do. Fellow Brash suggests that multiple voices mean a Highmost is more empathetic which is why many with that trait end up in Healing. I don’t want to leave Research, but he gave me a few books on Healing, just to pique my interest.”

  Leilani gaped at her friend. “Zeb, seriously? Over with? How can you just pass this off to Brash and leave so many questions unanswered? For all we know, he is working with Cogg. Do you really trust him?”

  Zeb gave an incredulous cough. “Of course I trust him. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because you just met him.” Leilani sat on her bed. “How can you know him?”

  “I know him better than you know your friend.” Zeb scowled. “What are you doing with a Wordless, anyway?”

  Leilani’s mouth tightened. “He’s not ‘a Wordless’. He's deaf. There's a difference. Also, his name is Brick, and I like him.”

  “How can you like him? You can’t even communicate, not like you and I can, anyway. How do you even know what he is like?” Zeb’s mouth twisted.

  “I just know, all right? Besides, do we really want to talk about boys right now? I’m not asking you to trust Brick with something as important as the dead spots.”

  “Well, maybe if you spent less time gallivanting around with Brick and more time talking with Brash, like I have, you would trust him like I do.”

  Leilani clenched her fists. “That’s not fair. You . . .” She drew a deep breath and let it out through her nose. “Brick is nice and thoughtful. I think you’d like him.”

  “If it is all the same to you, I’d rather stick with Brash.”

  “I don't see what is so great about Brash. He's just another stuffy Highmost.”

  Zeb's eyes clouded. “He's not stuffy. Cogg is stuffy. Brash is my friend. He knows all about manor politics, and he says he'll help me navigate my first few years. I need someone like him. You could learn from him, too, if you wanted. He knows all sorts of things about the Strains and manor history.”

  “I don't trust him, and you shouldn't either. I’m going to take a walk.” Leilani stomped out of the room.

  She wanted to tell Zeb about Brash insulting her in his workshop, but in Zeb's current mood, perhaps she'd excuse even that behavior. With Brash, Zeb seemed to have a blind spot. Leilani could've overlooked it if not for the dead spots, though Zeb's dismissal of Brick irked her a good deal.

  She listened to the Strains. They jangled now, like a pocketful of coins. Words weren’t everything. She could know Brick even if he couldn’t speak. He had treated her with courtesy. He liked art and thought it was beautiful. He thought she was beautiful.

  Her heart palpitated, and she slowed her furious pace. Perhaps she simply disliked hearing Zeb voice her own fears. After all, she had come to care for Brick so quickly. How real could it be? What would it be like to love a man who could never hear her voice?

  Love.

  The word made her breath quicken. Could it really be happening? To her? Now? No, she couldn't commit to that word, not yet, not even in her own head. Still, she did like him a good deal.

  Suddenly longing to see him, she detoured down the hall where they had first met, hoping he had been assigned the same station.

  However, a different guard, a few years older than Brick, paced about the circular bench. Leilani’s mouth pinched. Sighting her, the guard nodded respectfully.

  She walked up to him. “Excuse me, I’m looking for another guard.”

  The guard grimaced, cupped his hands over his ears, then shrugged. Her stomach twisted. She needed to learn how to communicate with the deaf. She stepped to the wall and beckoned the guard closer. She traced the outline of a single brick, the way Brick had when introducing himself. The guard’s face lit up. He pointed down the hallway then to his left twice.

  She repeated the motions. “Down there then two left turns?”

  He smiled and nodded. Her heart eased. Maybe this was manageable.

  Following the guard’s directions, she passed the strange gateway with the Strain-proof lock. Brick paced at the far end of the hall. He sighted her and waved. Hurrying forward, he motioned to the gate with a grin. She lowered her gaze bashfully then raised her face so he could see her lips.

  “I was curious. I wanted to do something without the Strains.”

  He took her hand and led her to the gate. Reaching behind her head, he pulled a pin from her bun. As he drew his hand back, it brushed against her cheek. He held up the pin, took the lock in his other hand, then pressed the pin into her palm.

  “Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “You want me to pick the lock?”

  She inserted the pin into the keyhole and wiggled it around. He watched, his brows slightly wrinkled and a smile playing about his lips. She listened to the clicks and felt the give whenever she hit a tumbler. He chuckled, a little too loudly. She realized he had never heard his own laugh. What would that be like?

  She paused in her work. He touched her wrist. She forced a smile, not wanting him to see her doubt.

  A satisfying snap rang out, and she froze. Her eyes met Brick’s, and he gave her a thumbs up, his eyes twinkling like all the stars in the sky. She felt dizzy. The lock fell open in her hand. The gate swung inward.

  Stepping through, she found herself at the top of a tall stair case, descending into utter darkness. The air had an unpleasant scent, like stagnant water. Brick’s nose wrinkled. Leilani returned to his side.

  Closing the gate, she replaced the lock, not snapping it shut but letting it rest so it hopefully wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention. She might wish to come back to it.

  She walked up and down the hall with Brick for a bit, keeping him company on his rounds. His presence calmed her until she felt reasonable enough to join Zebedy for dinner.

  Zeb ate in silence, occasionally glancing at Leilani. Her mouth turned down and her eyes were drawn. Leilani avoided looking at her and pretended to eat with relish though each bite felt as dry as dust.

  They walked back to the room after dinner. Leilani sat on her bed and picked up a book, determined to ignore Zeb indefinitely. Zeb stood above her, clutching her braid.

  “Leilani,” she said.

  Leilani kept her eyes on the page, even though she’d opened it to the wrong chapter. Zeb sighed and lay on her own bed, her arms crossed beneath her head.

  Leilani flipped through the book, trying to remember where she had left off. It was a romance, the dry kind where the boy and girl fought for foolish re
asons, and she kind of hoped one or both would die before the end. Zeb would read anything, no matter how dull or silly. Leilani had read a few chapters and put it aside, fully intending never to finish it, but it had been within arms length when she needed something to stare at.

  “Most Highmost don’t marry until their thirties.”

  Leilani looked up at Zeb’s random comment.

  “We just don’t. You are expected to spend at least two decades fully devoted to your manor before taking time away for marriage and children.”

  “You’ve never been one to do the expected.” Leilani shut the book.

  Zeb sat up. “Your sister was about your age when she married.”

  “Common marry young. There isn’t a reason to wait.”

  “I thought if you joined me at the manors, that would be your reason. Maybe you’d even meet a Highmost man you liked. Highmost marry Common more than you’d think, especially in the manors like Art and Civics where they interact a lot. Some Highmost even have two kids, not often, but it happens, so maybe we could marry brothers. I could have the older, responsible one, and you could take the younger, fun loving one.”

  Leilani crossed her legs and leaned forward. Zeb had certainly given that some thought. “I just met Brick. We aren’t going to run off together any time soon. Even if we did, he’s a guard and works in the manors. I’d still be close to you.”

  “It wouldn’t be the same.” Zeb rested her chin in her hands. “Maybe if I married an older man, then we could be married at the same time. I like the responsible, studious type. I wouldn’t mind if he were a dozen or so years older, and I’m advanced, so an older man might suit me.”

  Leilani’s brow tightened. “Fellow Brash hasn’t been flirting with you, has he? That would be kind of . . . creepy.”

  Zeb turned red. “No, and I didn’t mean Brash. I like him, but he’s not very confident. He lets Cogg bully him, and I don’t understand why. Plus he's fairer than I prefer.”

  But she’s thought about it. Leilani determined to keep a closer eye on Brash. Zeb could be ridiculously naive, and Leilani wouldn’t let anyone take advantage of that.

  “I like darker hair too. I think I'd want to pluck Brash's blond beard out if I was forced to look at it every day for the rest of my life.” Leilani shrugged.

  Zeb giggled. “I suppose your Brick does have very nice hair. I've never seen a boy with curls like that. Most keep it a little shorter . . . it's kind of pretty, but a little too . . . I don't know, not what I want either.”

  Leilani's face softened. “He's not my Brick. We're just friends. He is nice, though, Zeb. I hope you'll give him a chance.”

  Zeb sighed. “I'll try. For you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next day was business as usual. Leilani helped Zeb finish her paper on their Strains research. Leilani copied it in her neatest script. She used a device in the library where the pen was attached by a metal arm to another pen that moved as she moved the first, creating an exact copy of whatever she wrote. The novelty made the task less tedious.

  With a copy for Brash and one for Zeb’s portfolio, they returned to the workshop. Brash showed his juniors how to calibrate his strain-o-graphs, first the large one, then the portable version. Seeing these instruments made Leilani long to investigate the dead spots, but she respected Zeb’s decision and said nothing.

  When lunch break arrived, Brash addressed his junior fellows.

  “Highmost Cogg is taking a handful of the fellows, including myself, to a luncheon at Industry Manor. Because of this, you are all excused for the rest of the day. I encourage you to devote your time to the pursuit of knowledge.” He made eye contact with Zeb for a little too long. Leilani’s stomach twisted.

  Most of the junior fellows left in a tight group, followed by their aides, also clumped together. Zeb stuck to Leilani’s side, urging her towards the Observatory. “I want to see if they’ll let me examine the telescope. No one ever uses it in the day, after all.”

  With most of the fellows at lunch, only a solitary librarian remained on duty. When Zeb asked, he unlocked the gate to the spiral staircase leading up to the viewing platform.

  “Just don’t turn any knobs–they have it set where they want it–and be careful not to fall,” he cautioned.

  He then returned to his desk, propped his feet up, and stuck his nose back in his book.

  The platform surrounding the telescope consisted of grated metal and hovered about a dozen feet above the floor of the library. The railing stood at chin height, and Leilani had to rise to her tiptoes to gaze over it. A table and chairs, the one where Cogg and Brash had met the day before, lay beneath her. She glanced out over the library. Two female junior fellows came through a door, shoulder to shoulder. One was Marce, the girl Zeb disliked from the Country House. Leilani ducked when they turned towards her location, not wanting to be caught staring.

  She glanced at Zeb. The young Highmost was reading all the labels beneath the dozens of dials and switches on the telescope. Leilani pressed her finger to her lips and motioned downwards as the girls settled in the chairs below them.

  “So there were no Strains at all?” the other girl, a blonde Leilani didn’t recognize, asked. A chill cut through her. She focused on the conversation.

  “None, Ves, at all,” Marce said. “I ran around in circles looking for them for nearly ten minutes before they came back, but I swear I couldn’t hear even a whisper.”

  Zeb nudged Leilani.

  “One of the boys at dinner had a similar story. I thought he was just trying to scare me,” Ves said. “So what did you do?”

  “I told Cogg. I should’ve gone to my father instead. Highmost Cogg was furious, called me a liar and a fool and said if I told anyone, even my father, I’d never get another fellowship. I’m only telling you because . . . well, I had to tell someone. What if it happens again?”

  “Maybe it was just your imagination. Besides, it is best not to make waves in your first year. You're right to keep silent. . .” Ves's voice dropped slightly, and Leilani shifted, trying to hear. The metal clasp on her messenger bag clanked against the metal railing, and the girls beneath looked up then hurried away.

  Leilani dared to breathe again. The Strains began a tense rhythm, like pattering rain.

  “So it isn’t just us,” Zebedy said. “I almost feel sorry for Marce.”

  Leilani clenched her fists. “Cogg will intimidate anyone who tries to speak up.”

  Zeb's shoulders hunched. “But if more people find the dead spots, he can’t continue to suppress the knowledge. Someone will learn of them, someone he can’t bully, maybe from a different manor, and someone will do something.”

  “But what if it is too late?” Leilani hit the metal railing. The clang echoed through the Observatory. The librarian turned around at his desk, looked up at them, and placed his finger to his lips.

  The girls sat on the platform, Leilani rubbing her hand and Zeb staring at the telescope as if it might possibly save them.

  “What if Cogg is behind the dead spots?” Leilani sank her voice to a whisper.

  “Brash seemed to think he might be. He promised to look into it.”

  “But have you seen how Brash cowers before Cogg? What can he hope to achieve?”

  Zeb’s gaze dropped to her lap. Leilani glanced at the chronometer that sat beside the telescope’s eyepiece.

  “Cogg should be out of his office for a few more hours. What if we go there, pretending we don’t know he is out, and have a look inside? Maybe we’ll see something, a clue.”

  Zeb rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a scavenger hunt. I doubt he just leaves ‘clues’ lying on his desk. Even if he does, his aide probably wouldn’t let us in.”

  “Would it hurt to try?” Leilani frowned. “Aren’t questions and investigation the very spirit of Research?”

  Zeb bit her lip then stood. “All right, but let’s go quickly.”

  Leilani scrambled to her feet, wondering how to tell Ze
b she didn’t know the way, only to have her friend stride out of the room with clear purpose. Without hesitation, Zebedy made her way down the stairs and through a series of turns into a hall somewhere behind the library.

  Leilani hadn’t explored this section of the manor. The doors they passed bore engraved plaques identifying the senior fellows who maintained those offices. At the end of the hall stood tall double doors of carved dark wood, one of which was propped open. Warm, natural light flooded through from two great windows which overlooked the canals and the gardens beyond. A heavy wooden desk, covered in stacks of papers, sat before the windows.

  The girls stepped into the room and looked about. To their left lay a glass-doored cabinet filled with books, to their right, another pair of double doors. An open ledger sat upon the desk with a handwritten note.

  The Highmost of Research is out today. Please leave your name and manor or address, and I will contact you to make an appointment at a later time.–Dalia Times, Aide to Highmost Cogg

  “His aide is out too,” Leilani breathed. “Is this his desk?”

  “No, this is his aide’s desk. His is through there.” Zeb pointed towards the doors.

  Leilani tried the silver-plated knob. “Locked, and Strain-proof I bet.” As if in answer the Strains whistled shrilly then faded into twittering.

  “It's for the best. We shouldn’t be here anyway.” Zeb put her hand on Leilani’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  Leilani rubbed the back of her neck, mindful of the pins in her bun. “Keep a look out for me. I want to try something.” She took out a pin and stuck it in the lock.

  Zeb’s jaw dropped. “Leilani! Stop!”

  Leilani shot her a scowl. “If you don’t want to, fine, leave. I can do this on my own. I want to know what is going on with Cogg.”

  Leilani turned back to her lock picking. Zeb moaned, pulled at her braid, and moved to the door. Instead of leaving, she stationed herself where she could watch the hall, occasionally casting glances at Leilani. Leilani’s heart eased.